DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

On any other day, I’d be writing about the latest in a string of calamities to hit the Mets with Johan Santana going from having a sore chest muscle to getting ready to have his shoulder operated on. Or Jenry Mejia proving that any thought of either Jerry Manuel or Omar Minaya keeping their job is preposterous as both are accountable for wasting this young man’s season and pushing his development back due to their own selfishness. But today is not any other day, it’s September 11th 2010, the ninth anniversary on the worst day ever in American history.

What makes this day even tougher, is nine years ago in the wake of the attack, the country came together, we were not Christians, Jews, Muslim, Republican, Democrat, Liberal or Conservative, we were AMERICANS! We came together because OUR country was attacked, WE were attacked, the core of what we stand for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was attacked and we were not going to stand for it. We were truly the UNITED States of America. So what why is it nine years later we as Americans are so divided?

How did we lose our way? How did we let Wall St nearly ruin us? Why have we pledge our allegiance to political parties instead of to the good of the American people. These days Republicans and Democrats are more concerned of who is charge of the Senate than they are about getting people back to work and taking care of the very people we will honor today, the first responders at Ground Zero . Think about it, why isn’t there the outrage about Congress not passing a bill that would take care of all medical expenses of the first responders at the World Trade Center attack like there is for the Park51 project? How can you be more angry about a community center with a pray room in it than you are about someone who was digging in rubble to try to save another human being and in the process sucked in asbestos and other carcinogens ?

I will never forget September 11th 2001 for as long as I live. It was a day just like today sunny, clear and a feel of autumnl was on the way as I write this 8:46AM is when the world changed. I missed being in the middle of it by an hour as I was enroute from lower Manhattan to Queens where my office was. Since then I was transfer to Lower Manhattan and now I’m just five blocks away from where all hell broke loose, so I’m reminded of it everyday.

So what will I do today? I’ll spend the day with my family and be grateful for them, and I’ll take pride that I am a born and raised New Yorker and most importantly I will show how proud I am to be an AMERICAN. God bless the souls killed on 9-11-01 and their friends and families. God Bless the fallen heroes of the FDNY, NYPD, PAPD who ran towards the attack when others were running away. God bless the people of NYC who on 9-12-01 picked up the pieces and proved to the world that nothing stops us from going to work and providing for our families and most of all God Bless The United States of America.

Comments

On Sunday 9/9/01, I was still running a softball team…I had finally convinced my friend Scotty to play with us. He had grown tired of playing on teams that were fighting all the time, we played to win, but we never lost sight of the fact that we were playing for fun. I told him at the start of the season, play for a couple of weeks and if you decide that you did not want to play, there would be no hard feelings, I would understand. The last words he said to me were, I am with you guys for life, with a great big smile on his face.

Two days later, I spent the day (as well as the next few) consoling students in the school I work in that we would be okay. That Thursday night at bowling, I found out that Scotty (he worked in the Towers & I didn’t know) was one of the 3,000 murder victims. It hit me hard, and I was not a relative, or a loved one, we had just known each other through softball & bowling.

It has been nine years since this happened, and I have never told his wife, who has gratefully moved on with her life, this story. I never feel right when I go to do it. Thanks Krane, for letting me put this out there.

Every year I watch Piazzas HR after 9/11…..Every year I cry like all hell…..Krane is correct we have let the politicians and media take control of our country. It is time we take it back….This country was built on the backs of free Americans making their own decisions and living and dieing with them. Not by Presidents that think they are smarter then all of us and have all the answers.

pfh64 I know exactly how you feel at worek we were posting the wakes for NYPD and FDNY as Mayor Giuliani had ask Civil Servants to try to make an appearance at a wake of a fireman or police officer near where you live as both departments were worn thin from gong to funerals. As I was posting the pictures and instruction I saw the picture of a fireman who I grew up with and played ball with and against. I can still feel the sick sensation in my gut.

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